PBS Digital Studies presents, via "The Art Assignment", a video about Mark Rothko, covering in four minutes the artist's biography between Europe and the United States.

After studying different art styles and movements of the period, Rothko questioned the role of art in connection to the social and political situation in the world. From then on he experimented with color and hazy areas, arriving at "full" abstraction in 1947. For Rothko, a work of art connects with human emotions through its structure and color.

"The Art Assignment" is a video series that introduces artists and explores the history of art through the lens of the present.